when we were buzzing from the ashes in early february, i cant imagine anybody was calling for strauss to give up the captaincy. in fact, i'm sure everyone thought he was some sort of god. him and andy flower had master-minded the team to a victory down under, something that no england team had achieved in 24 years. yes the ODI series after didn't go to plan. my interpretation of the 6-1 series defeat was that the players were mentally and physically drained. how can you motivate a group of players who are playing a series simply, in the words of graeme swann, 'playing fairly meaningless matches scheduled purely to put silver in the coffers of some cricket board'. i'm not saying the lads didn't try but the ashes had already been won. their main mission was complete.
regarding the debate over strauss, england coach andy flower said 'i don't think making snap judgements at the end of five months of solid cricket, is the right time to be doing it'.
and after all, when looking back at the world cup campaign, is there evidence to suggest that strauss was a weak link? absolutely not.
an eighty eight in the opening match against the netherlands and a memorable century against india are just two examples of the quality of strauss in one day cricket.
he leads by example on and off the pitch and at the age of 34, still has alot more to give as one day captain. i am struggling to believe the rumours that alastair cook replacing andrew strauss as ODI captain are one, true and secondly that it would benefit the team. cook, a man who hasn't played ODI cricket for england for a while, cannot be the solution to england's 'failing' in the fifty over format of the game. cook is a fantastic test batsman and will captain the test team to glory in a few years. now is not the time to promote him to ODI captain.
one of the best winter's in english cricket should be not overshadowed by an inconsistent world cup and media pressure on strauss.
